


Repair Station WM01

by meyari



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, F/F, M/M, robots as people, robots as slaves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 05:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1886763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>TIM is very glad that his Father, Master Bruce, rescued him and repaired him. TIM enjoys working with his Father very much, though he has always been curious about his Father's one son, Jason. He never dares to ask though since Jason died a long time ago and Father has never stopped mourning him. Still, TIM does what he can to fill the void in Father's life, taking care of his own needs as best he can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Repair Station WM01

TIM allowed music from the stations systems to fill his aural circuits as he straightened up the secondary repair lab for Father. Father had said that Lord Kal-El and his DICK unit would be by in a few minutes for more repairs to DICK's stabilizers. TIM wasn't sure how DICK kept damaging his stabilizers but his constant acrobatics had to put a terrible strain on them. Even with DICK's carefully planned and designed flexibility, the stunts had to be hard on his servos and joints.

"I'm fine, really," DICK said as he walked in leaning on Lord Kal-El's arm. "My back's a little overextended and my right knee's a bit wonky but we don't need to do a full check."

"I have the time," Father said with one of his amused little smirks that meant that he was pleased to see them even if it was for more repairs. "TIM's already set everything up so quit fussing that you'll be putting me out."

"Besides," Lord Kal-El said with enough worry and tenderness that TIM felt like he should leave the room rather than witness such naked emotion, "I can hear some very worrisome creaking in your back and legs, DICK. No complaints. The last thing I want is for you to be broken. You're too important to me."

DICK was moving much too stiffly for his design so TIM made sure that the repair bed was lowered to make it easier for him to climb on. Lord Kal-El and Father helped him settled on the repair bed though DICK complained the whole time and clutched Kal-El's hand as Father attached the AI transfer unit to his cranium, transferring him out of his body and into the holding computer so that he wouldn't feel anything that Father had to do to him.

"Hmm, there are a lot of stress fractures on the supports," Father murmured as he opened DICK's back up. "Nothing that can't be replaced quickly and easily. He'll be fine, Kal."

"I hope so," Kal-El sighed. "You're the only one I trust to fix him, Bruce. So many repair stations just say that they're fixing bots while taking your money and leaving them in worse condition."

TIM's internal alarms sounded about halfway through the work on DICK. Rather than interrupt Father and Kal-El's quiet discussion of their past together and the crazy things that DICK had been doing to get these particular stress fractures, TIM got permission to go check on STEPH and CASS. He took his personal tool kit along but that was normal enough that Father didn't appear to notice it.

He did check on his sister robots. STEPH had brought CASS in for some more upgrades to her communication circuits yesterday. They were both shut down currently, sharing a VR experience that ALFRED had designed for them. It must be quite entertaining given the little smile on CASS' lips and the quiet giggles coming from STEPH. TIM would have to ask later what it was and if he'd enjoy it. The one that he'd tried with STEPH while CASS was being worked on had been very entertaining. Rooftop tag in an ancient city was entirely fun though he was relatively certain he shouldn't have taken as much pleasure in fighting and damaging humans as he did. They might have been virtual but it still struck his programming as wrong to enjoy harming humans.

TIM's private repair bay was much smaller and simpler than Father's but it was home. The internal alarm sounded again, prompting TIM to open his front abdomen hatch to check the particular problem. Oils were at the correct levels, with no contamination. Diagnostics said that his hydraulics were due for flushing and replacement so TIM hooked himself up and settled back on his recharging cushion for the process.

It always felt odd to TIM. Mother had not designed him to allow for this sort of regular maintenance. She'd said many times that robots ought to be for short-term usage as they were so quickly out of date as technology progressed. TIM was very grateful that Father had been interested in him. His prototype had never been made into a production unit due to what Mother considered to be irredeemable flaws in his emotion circuits so TIM was all that there would ever be of his type.

The tubes cycling his hydraulic fluids stretched up like slightly quivering snakes to the ceiling. Father had been quite harsh when he upgraded TIM's emotion circuitry. He still reassured TIM that having emotions made a robot far more valuable than being a mere object that moved. TIM thought that someday he would believe Father about that though his attempts to change his coding on that front never survived after a sleep cycle.

"Where the hell is everyone?"

TIM jerked and quickly disconnected the hydraulic tubes. Ninety-five percent complete was sufficient to automatically turn off the alarm. He hurried into the hallway, staring up at the man with his heavy blaster jacket and dark hair. Despite his apparent youth, the man had a white streak of hair on his forehead and many scars, including one along his neck that must have nearly killed him.

"I am very sorry," TIM told him with a proper bow that was required for robots to humans. "Master Wayne is with a client presently and unavailable. I can summon ALFRED and have something prepared for you if you wish to wait."

"Mmm, nah," the man said. He looked at TIM as if he was malfunctioning. "Tell him Jason stopped by. I'll be back in a day or two, maybe three. Got some things I… need to take care of."

"Of course, sir," TIM said.

The man moved a little awkwardly, as though one of his legs hurt and his back was sore, but he left quickly enough that TIM was a bit stunned. It wasn't until the man, Jason, turned and looked back at TIM that he realized where he'd seen that face before.

The design sketch was one of the few pieces of actual art in the entire WM01 Repair Station. Father had said that he'd based it off a drawing by an ancient human named Da Vinci. It had a circle and a square imposed on each other and a man standing inside of it. The right side of the man's body was human, like Father, but the left side of his body was robotic, showing the synthetic muscles and servos that hid under a robot's outer skin.

TIM went and stared at the drawing for a while. So that had been the man that Father had wanted to base his robot series on. TIM knew that he'd made a prototype a long time ago but it had been destroyed in an explosion. Father had decided that he wouldn't, couldn't, replace the JASON unit so no more had been made.

Once DICK's repairs were done and he'd departed with Kal-El, Father immediately turned to the upgrades to CASS' circuitry. STEPH teased TIM and hugged him, squishing his cheeks and laughing at the sounds he made as he tried to talk. She looked nearly human, only a few gaps in her outer skin at the neck and waist showing her robotic skeleton underneath.

"You're tense," STEPH commented quietly as Father talked with CASS after the upgrade.

"Father had a guest and I haven't been able to tell him about it," TIM admitted.

"Pfft, you need to be more forceful, TIM!" STEPH huffed. "Come on, you know you can interrupt him if you need to."

"No, it's not a rush," TIM said, embarrassed because she was right. He did have permission to interrupt. He just hated to do it. "He said that he'd be back in one to three days, depending on the things he needed to do."

"Well, I guess its okay then," STEPH said. "So how'd it go? Is she going to be able to speak in more than two word sentences?"

"Yes, she will," Father said with pride as he helped CASS off the repair bed. "It will take practice and more experience for her to learn proper grammar but I trust that you'll let her get a word in edgewise from time to time."

TIM laughed at STEPH's outraged noise. CASS was laughing too so she must truly have gotten a very good upgrade. Humor had been somewhat beyond her before Father began this. Of course, she'd been an assassination bot so communication hadn't been deemed important to her function by her creators.

Both STEPH and CASS hugged TIM before they left, STEPH waving goodbye as they walked out hand in hand. TIM sighed and looked at Father. He seemed tired but content. ALFRED arrived with Father's dinner and TIM's nutrient pack so TIM waited until Father was done eating.

"What's wrong?" Father asked as ALFRED took the tray away, patting TIM's shoulder. "You've been tense ever since DICK and Kal left."

"Um, you had a visitor," TIM explained. "While you were working on DICK. He said that his name was Jason and that he'd be back in one to three days, depending on how his work went."

ALFRED froze by the door, turning back to stare at TIM. Father went so pale that TIM automatically scanned him to make sure that something horrible hadn't happened to his heart. It was beating much harder and faster than normal but nothing else seemed to be wrong with Father's body.

"Jason?" Father repeated. "Alive?"

"Um, he certainly looked alive," TIM said, startled. "He was walking as if he was a bit sore but that was it."

"And no gaps in his skin?" Father asked. "How…?"

TIM's body froze as his neural net finally caught all the little things that had been bothering him about Jason. He stared at Father, mouth dropped open for sounds that he wasn't capable of making at the moment.

Robot.

Jason was a robot. He wasn't a human with injuries. The person who had stood in front of TIM was the JASON prototype that was supposed to have been destroyed in an explosion. All the oddities of how he moved and the scar on his neck were a result of his being a damaged robot coming home to his maker to be repaired.

"I'll go search the surveillance cameras around the station to see if I can find out where he went," TIM said. "I didn't realize… He looks so human, Father. You did such a good job on him!"

Father breathed a laugh, squeezing TIM's shoulder a bit too tightly for a human's comfort but just right for TIM. Over the next two days they all searched, using all of their contacts and resources to located where JASON had gone. They all failed. JASON appeared to have disappeared the instant he walked out of Repair Station WM01. Even CASS had been unable to track where he'd gone with her assassin programming.

Then on the third day JASON returned with the torso and head of a prototype robot in his arms.

"Where is he and don't say that he's not available this time!" JASON snapped as he strode into the station with the blanket-wrapped prototype.

"He's in his main lab," TIM said, leading the way even though JASON probably didn't need a guide. "We've been looking for you. He's been very worried."

"You're communication circuits could use some serious upgrades," JASON snorted. "Formal much?"

"I communicate just fine," TIM huffed at him. "You're just very… human."

JASON stared at TIM for a moment and then smiled so sweetly that TIM's emotion circuits had a hard time coping with the sudden switch. "Huh. Thanks. Haven't heard that in a while."

Father jerked and stood when they walked in, his eyes going first to JASON and then to the prototype in JASON's arms. He gestured for JASON to put the prototype on the repair bed, frowning at how incomplete and damaged it was.

"Fucking Ra's decided that the kid wasn't good enough," JASON grumbled as he made sure the prototype was situated properly. "Bad enough that he reworked me after he found my carcass, he has to start to create a bot and then trash it."

"It was Ra's," Father growled.

"Actually Talia more than him," JASON sighed. He nodded approval as Father hooked up the diagnostics to the prototype. "She found me and rebuilt what she could of me. Ra's provided the last few things and managed to reboot my AI matrix some fucking way. Then he wouldn't let me go and kept fucking poking at him to try and figure out how you designed my AI."

"I didn't," Father snorted. "I allowed you to grow."

"Yeah, told him that," JASON sighed. "Doesn't really matter now. Once I found out about the kid I decided I was getting out one way or the other. Took a good bit of work to rescue him but I think I managed to save his AI at least. He's fucked in the head from all the crap Ra's loaded into him but I think you can save him. From what I hear you've gotten good at that since I died."

Father's hands stilled, prompting JASON to snort at him. He was amazingly lifelike, so much like a human that it was startling to realize that he wasn't. After a moment Father gave JASON one of his looks that meant he could see straight past the bluster. JASON jerked and actually blushed, which made TIM stare at him in wonder. So few robots were given skin that was that responsive.

"I can tell that you have some major injuries," Father said. "Let TIM work on you while I see if I can rebuild DAMIAN without resorting to illicit parts."

"You know his type?" JASON asked, obviously surprised.

"Yes," Father sighed. His eyes were old and human and very, very sad as he stared at the prototype. "Talia and I designed him together. We… had planned on making him into a brother for you but…"

"Yeah, the explosion," JASON sighed. "All right, fine. I'll let the replacement work on me. Sure as hell do need some help with some of the repairs. I can't reach the spots that need help."

"He's not a replacement for you, JASON," Father murmured as JASON headed for the door with TIM on his heels. "TIM is a Drake Industries prototype I rescued, just like STEPH and CASS and now DAMIAN. I've only ever made you."

Once again the naked emotion on Father and JASON's faces was a bit much for TIM's emotion circuits but JASON only nodded and turned his back to head towards the little repair bay that was TIM's home. He nodded appreciatively at the new equipment that Father had given TIM, pulling off his clothes to reveal access hatches and panels that were dented and scarred by combat.

"The real problem is with my right rear stabilizer," JASON said perfectly calmly while pulling his boots off. "The knee's wonky as all hell, granted, but that's because I had to cannibalize another wrecked bot's knee to get it working. I can deal with that until a proper replacement is brought in. The damn stabilizer's been driving me nuts with error messages ever since I escaped from Ra's' station."

"I think we have compatible stabilizers," TIM said in what he knew was too soft and too quiet a tone of voice. "I'll check the stores once the diagnostics are running. Do you want me to hook up a VR for you?"

"No fucking way," JASON grumbled. "I hate those damned things."

"Really?" TIM asked, surprised. "Father created a fun one for STEPH and CASS where you play rooftop tag in an ancient city and fight crime."

JASON turned his head to stare at TIM with a huge grin. "Seriously?"

"Mmm-hmm," TIM said while studying the diagnostics on JASON's damage. There was a lot more than what he'd mentioned but those were the two major problems. "I've played it once. It was… fun."

"Drake Industries, huh?" JASON sighed as TIM shut off his sensors to the stabilizer and set to work removing it. "No emotions when you got here?"

"Ah, no," TIM admitted. They had several stabilizers that would work but he picked the strongest and sturdiest one for JASON. If he went into combat regularly he'd need it. "Father is still helping me upgrade on that front. It's challenging sometimes. Emotions can be… overwhelming for me."

JASON grunted and set his head on his arms, watching TIM work from the corner of his eye. A companionable silence descended as TIM fixed the stabilizer, properly integrated it into JASON's body and then decided that most of his stabilizers needed some help. The knee would need to be completely rebuilt which was more than TIM could do in his repair bay. There was a replacement that would function well enough while FATHER rebuilt it though so TIM switched them out and sent Father a message saying what needed to be done. Once the basic repairs were done JASON turned all his sensors back on and smiled at the change.

"Way better," JASON commented while getting dressed. "You're pretty good at this."

"I was designed to be a repair assistant," TIM said a good bit too snippily but his programming said that it might make JASON laugh.

It worked, prompting JASON to laugh out loud and grin at TIM. He stood and offered a hand to TIM. "Come on. I want to go say hi to Alf and check out the changes around here. It'll take a good long time before B's ready to stop working on the kid. Might as well get acquainted."

TIM stared at the hand for a long moment, circuits struggling against the confusing wash of emotions that JASON had set off. He took it and stood, smiling shyly at JASON. The larger bot's hand felt warm and very, very human in TIM's but there was a strength and solidity to it that was reassuring. Humans were so very fragile and short lived, other than Lord Kal-El. It was nice to have someone around who was more durable.

"I'd… like that," TIM said.

"And maybe later you can show me that kick-ass VR you were talking about," JASON said as they headed to the door. "Do you have to play a hero or can you be a villain too?"

"I think that you can be whatever you want in there," TIM admitted though he wasn't entirely certain about that. "I haven't explored it very much."

"How about we do that together then?" JASON asked so gently that TIM wished his face was equipped to blush.

"…Sure," TIM said, grinning instead. "Let's."

+++++

_"Be my Robin."_

_Tim's breath caught at the expression on Jason's face. Red Hood. Not Jason. This was not the person who had been Robin before the Joker killed him. He'd changed. Changed so much that Batman no longer accepted him as a hero._

_But Tim could still see Jason behind the mask of the villain. Jason was there. He wasn't lost to the madness of the Pit. Tim licked his lips before taking Jason's hand. His fingers trembled until Jason's hand closed around Tim's. The serious expression on Jason's face transformed into a huge smile of complete and utter delight. There was so much joy that Tim's heart clenched in his chest. The pulse_ (that he'd never had—TIM knew he didn't have a pulse) _pounded in his ears._

_"Yes."_

_Jason tugged Tim's hand, pulling him so close that their chests bumped together. His other hand wrapped around the back of Tim's head, angling so that their lips pressed together. Around them Gotham City faded away in a shower of pixels and sound. The last thing Tim felt was the warmth and pressure of Jason's kiss._

TIM would have sworn that his lips were tingling as he slipped out of the Gotham City VR and back into his body. He'd never been kissed before so he had no idea whether this was a normal reaction or not. Of course, his body was fully capable of such activities but he'd never done it. Father had insisted that Tim needed the capacity, even if he chose not to exercise it.

"You okay over there?" JASON asked when TIM just lay on his pallet and didn't get up. "I didn't break you, did I?"

"Oh, no," TIM said, wishing for an upgrade that allowed blushes. He added a note to his personal upgrade schedule to put that into the queue. "Just… processing. That was a great deal more fun with you than it was with STEPH and CASS. Though I'm still not sure why you chose to play a villain."

"Eh, it was more fun," JASON said. He swung off his pallet and offered a hand to TIM. "There's a lot more freedom of choice in weaponry and tactics when you play the villain side."

"But you didn't actually act like a villain," TIM protested. "You acted like a hero. Well, sort of."

He took the hand even though he didn't really need it. JASON was more unstable than TIM was. The rebuilt knee joint wasn't done yet. Father was working on creating DAMIAN a body that would work properly for him so he hadn't gotten to JASON's knee. Still, the gesture was nice. It fed back into the surprise kiss that JASON had given TIM before their return.

"Yeah, I broke your brain," JASON laughed. He tapped TIM's nose with one finger, grinning at the way TIM wrinkled his nose. "Hey, really good articulation. Didn't think you had it in you."

"My face is fully mobile," TIM complained.

"Well, obviously," JASON said as he tugged TIM out of the VR room and down the hall towards where DAMIAN was being worked on. "You just don't use it most of the time. Wasn't sure if you'd had that upgrade or not."

TIM nodded. He couldn't disagree with that. Emotions and displaying them were something that he struggled with, even with after all his work with Bruce, ALFRED and the upgrades he'd gotten. Even now he wasn't sure how to respond to the feeling JASON's hand wrapped around his, the kiss (and his mind kept replaying that kiss in entirely too much detail), and pretty much everything that JASON said or did.

Fortunately it didn't seem to bother JASON even though he clearly understood emotions much more fully than TIM could dream of right now. He seemed to be perfectly willing to explain anything that TIM might ask, though TIM didn't dare ask some of the questions he wanted to. Like what it was like to be junked. How had JASON been brought back? What had Ra's done to him? How in the universe had JASON become so human that humans weren't as human as him?

"How is DAMIAN doing?" TIM asked instead.

"Mmmm, looks like he's doing pretty good," JASON said as he studied the cleaning tube that DAMIAN had been put in. "Lots of crud coming out. Ra's had a seriously messy workshop."

"Do you need a leaning?" TIM asked, suddenly worried about JASON. "I have the proper equipment in my room. I'd be glad to help if you like."

JASON grinned at TIM, his eyes all but dancing with amusement. "I don't know. We only just met. That's an awfully personal thing to do, muck around inside a guy's guts and clean him out that way. Takes a lot of trust, you know."

TIM wasn't sure what the noise was that came from his mouth but it sounded entirely too much like an undignified squeal of embarrassment. He waved his hands and spluttered several things that came out utterly wrong. JASON laughed and put his fingers over TIM's mouth, grinning openly at him.

"Relax, kiddo," JASON chuckled. "I'm just trying to get a rise out of you. That, for your information, was a wonderfully honest and real emotional response. I love it."

"You're awful," TIM complained. Maybe he wouldn't get that blush upgrade after all. JASON would just try and make TIM blush all the time.

"Yup, got that in one," JASON said. He winked at TIM as he ruffled TIM's hair.

TIM sighed and checked the information on DAMIAN so that he wouldn't have to meet JASON's eyes and deal with the amused grin there. Father had done a wonderful job finding parts to complete DAMIAN's body. Most of the things he'd gathered so far were under the table. Even running a robot repair station didn't explain the more specialized components and Father didn't want to report DAMIAN's creation, not when he'd been stolen from Ra's. 

There were so many parts that had to be created specifically for DAMIAN. From eyes to sensory arrays to skeleton, DAMIAN needed a great many things that simply weren't available. Most skeletons were made especially for that robot series. DAMIAN's series had never been created before so his skeleton didn't exist. ALFRED was busy machining raw metal into the parts that DAMIAN would need. The stabilizers were specialized as well, as were DAMIAN's sensory equipment which went well beyond what TIM had. DAMIAN would have senses that rivaled CASS who could detect things so far behind TIM's specs that it amazed him on a regular basis.

"He's going to have very good senses," TIM commented as he went over DAMIAN's technical specs again.

"Pretty much inevitable," JASON agreed. "Still not sure I agree with the whole hunter/killer programming but it was wound pretty deep into his core. Fucking Ra's turns everything he touches into an assassin."

"I doubt the programming could be removed without damaging him," TIM sighed. "It's too much a part of him now. He's going to need lots of emotion upgrades, though. He'll be similar to me in that regard."

"Lots of them. Gonna take a while before he understands people, I think."

They both frowned at DAMIAN's sleeping form in the tube. He had a head, with cybernetic brain intact inside of it, a backup processor in the chest and the basic power supplies necessary to keep both of those going. But other than that there wasn't much to his body; reinforced titanium skull, neck, shoulders, the sketchy outline of a torso but nothing more. He had no arms, no legs, not even eyes, lips, ears yet.

"Freaking you out?" JASON asked.

"I've always thought that seeing partially intact robots was disturbing," TIM admitted reluctantly. "That's why Mother wanted to decommission me. I was too emotional for her personal preferences. I um, objected when she decommissioned her personal sex bot, JACK."

"Okay, that's just freaking wrong," JASON shuddered. "Those things are specially designed for the owner and literally grow to love them. And she…?"

"Personally turned him off and took him apart for his components," TIM whispered.

JASON stared at TIM with his jaw dropped open. When he realized that TIM was very, very serious he shuddered and made a disgusted face. It was basically murder. Father certainly thought of it that way. Decommissioning a robot and taking it totally apart was worse than wiping its personality matrix and reworking its core programming. To do that to something, some _one_ who had grown to love you utterly, said things about Mother that made TIM queasy despite the lack of a stomach.

Neither of them had a chance to say anything further as the arrival alarm chimed, popping up an image of the arriving ship and its pilot. The little ship with its bright red, blue and yellow paint job followed the approach beacons though as always the _Krypto_ flew entirely too quickly. TIM smiled and headed for the door, knowing that Kon would already be on his way to find him by the time they were out of the repair section of the station.

"Who the hell is that?" JASON asked as they entered the visitor's section of the station.

"TIM! I found the coolest thing and I wanted to show you!" Kon shouted as he flew around the corner while waving something in one hand. He jerked and immediately landed when he spotted JASON standing behind TIM. "Oh man, sorry. I didn't know that you had a customer. Sorry, dude."

"I repeat," JASON said, this time with some amusement in his voice, "who the hell?"

"JASON, this is Kon-El," TIM said, introducing them. "Kon, this is JASON, Father's first prototype."

"Whoa, you are not a robot. No way," Kon breathed, staring at JASON and then narrowing his eyes to scan him. "Oh Rao, you actually are a bot! Man, that is incredible! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't scanned you. You are seriously all but human, dude."

"Thanks," JASON said, laughing for real this time. "So you and TIM are friends?"

"Yeah, I come by and bug him pretty much every time we're in the neighborhood," Kon said, grinning. "Bart's got the _Titans_ in the area too so I figured I'd stop by and see if you were up for a VR night. That game you guys got for CASS is seriously cool. Being a superhero rocks."

TIM nodded, grateful once again that he didn't have the blushing upgrade because he couldn't help but think about the feeling of Jason's lips against his in the game. "JASON and I were playing it earlier. I'm not sure that Father would want us to do that right now. He's working on a new bot, one who needs a full body reconstruction."

"Oh dude," Kon moaned. "That must have been brutal! Seriously? Full body? What'd they do, rip his arms and legs off or something?"

"Close enough," JASON said and nodded so grimly that Kon winced. 

It wasn't quite the truth but Kon didn't have full access to everything on the station so that was all right. TIM didn't like telling lies but this wasn't really a lie. It was more simply not sharing all of the truth. Instead of heading to the VR room to set up a schedule TIM led them towards the lounge where Father was working today. With DAMIAN being repaired, he'd have to get approval before doing it. Kon and Bart were always a lot of work anyway, given their abilities.

As they walked, Kon studied JASON. He seemed to take in all the things that JASON did, from the perpetual smirk to the scars that made his skin look fully human to the oddities to his gait that came from the temporary knee. Eventually he laughed, shaking his head in awe.

"Man, if I ever decide I want a bot of my own I am so asking Bruce to make me one," Kon said. "He does good work."

"Thanks, kid," JASON said, grinning at him. "Personally I think you ought to rescue a bot and then have B upgrade it but that's just me. Better to give a bot a new life when it would be killed than just create a new one, right?"

"Yeah, that'd work, wouldn't it?" Kon said thoughtfully. "It's sort of what he's known for. Wayne Manor Repair Station, the place you go to get your bot all better."

JASON snickered at that mangling of the Wayne Manor motto while TIM huffed and glared at Kon over his shoulder. Kon didn't seem to notice. Instead, he passed the bundle in his hand over to TIM, beaming again as if it was the coolest thing ever. TIM took it, blinking quickly when he realized that it was the latest version of a stabilizer synchronizer, the sort that you couldn't get on the open market.

"Where did you get this?" TIM asked.

His tone made JASON peer over his shoulder and then whistle with awe while Kon went beet red.

"Um, I just sort of acquired it," Kon said nervously. He started floating without seeming to realize it. "You know. It was just lying around."

"If you and Bart are doing piracy again I'm going to be very upset with you, Kon," Tim complained. "You'll get Lord Kal into trouble and we only just fixed DICK up. He shouldn't have to go out and save you all the time."

"No, it wasn't anything like that!" Kon protested.

He kept on protesting, telling an increasingly unbelievable story of how he'd managed to 'acquire' the tool as they made their way through the station to Father's personal section. It started out a simple story of Kon getting it second hand from someone who'd come on hard times and thus had to sell his gear but it quickly grew when TIM scoffed at that explanation. Those sorts of tools were never sold that way.

By the time they found Father and ALFRED comparing notes on the progress on DAMIAN's skeleton, JASON was offering suggestions to Kon's story, which Kon enthusiastically added to his ever-growing saga of the synchronizer. TIM sighed and shook his head at them both. Ridiculous, the both of them.

TIM wasn't about to admit that he thought that they were adorable. Even if they were.

+++++

"I know you're nervous but it'll be okay," STEPH told CASS as they headed from the public entrance to WM-01 towards Bruce's repair bays. "This is no different from any of the other upgrades you've gotten."

"Integration," CASS complained, making a face.

"Yeah, that's always a pain but you come out better each time," STEPH said. "We haven't had a single repeat of that problem with your sensor grid going down. He's really careful now and you know I'll be there watching. Plus TIM will be helping and he's really good at this."

CASS nodded and smiled at the mention of TIM. They'd been fast friends practically from the moment that they met each other. STEPH had sort of expected that CASS wouldn't like another bot moving in with Bruce when she'd been his sort-of adopted robot-daughter before TIM showed up. To her surprise there hadn't been the slightest issue. Of course, TIM had been even more emotionally stunted than CASS, not that CASS was really _emotionally_ stunted in the beginning. She'd just been unable to communicate properly.

The main repair bay was actually occupied when they got there. TIM and Bruce were both there, along with some guy who obviously had brought in a junked bot in need of repairs. The poor bot looked like someone had ripped off its arms and legs. Heck, it didn't even have skin yet, which was seriously creepy to look at.

CASS immediately focused on the customer, frowning intensely at him until she jerked and caught STEPH's arm a moment later. The customer raised an eyebrow at them, apparently not minding at all that they'd interrupted the work on his bot.

"Robot," CASS said, wondering amazement in her voice.

"The junked one?" STEPH asked.

"No, him," CASS said, pointing at the customer.

"No way!" STEPH gasped. "You're not a bot!"

TIM laughed as he helped Bruce transfer the junked bot from the cleaning tube down to the work bench. The customer, bot, whatever he was, laughed too, winking at CASS and bowing ironically at STEPH. Even Bruce was smirking so maybe CASS was right and he actually was a bot.

"Is he?" STEPH asked.

"He's JASON," TIM said, frowning as he hooked the junked bot up to the monitors and about a million tubes and wires needed to monitor his condition. "Father's prototype."

"I thought you were junked," STEPH said, wincing when CASS hissed at her for being completely and utterly insensitive.

"Eh, I sort of was," JASON said, shrugging entirely too casually. "I got rebooted and I'm back in action. More or less intact other than a gimpy knee."

"Which I will be rebuilding shortly," Bruce said. "TIM, make sure that all the connections are correct. See if you can get the VR program working for DAMIAN. I'd like to see if we can get any readings from his AI before we rebuild his body."

TIM nodded, setting to work with his normal efficiency and care. Bruce watched for a second before coming over to smile at CASS who fidgeted but didn't hide behind STEPH. That was a step in the right direction. When they'd started this CASS used to hide rather than submit willingly to the upgrades even though she always claimed that she wanted them.

"You do want this, don't you?" Bruce asked CASS, just as he always did.

"Yes," CASS said. "Nervous. Will have sensors?"

"Yes, you'll have your sensors when we're done," Bruce chuckled. "I know what to look out for now. I won't make the same mistake again."

CASS nodded and sighed. The secondary repair bay was smaller and more intimate. STEPH was pretty sure that it was TIM's private bay. Hopefully he wouldn't mind sharing for a little while. Bruce got CASS settled on the bed, hooking up a VR program for her to explore while they worked. STEPH kind of wondered which one it was. Once the upgrade was done STEPH would have to ask. Bruce had the best VR she'd ever encountered.

"So how many more upgrades do you think she'll need?" STEPH asked once CASS was out and Bruce was working.

"This is the last physical upgrade," Bruce said as he opened CASS' braincase to get at the circuits there. "After this it will be software and practice."

"Cool," Steph said. "So what's with the not-bot and the junk bot?"

Bruce laughed quietly, glancing at STEPH and shaking his head. He didn't answer her immediately. She didn't mind. Fixing CASS was way more important even though STEPH was seriously curious. Normally Bruce didn't fix bots that were that damaged. Not to mention the huge issue of a supposedly junked prototype bot suddenly reappearing out of nowhere. That sort of thing just didn't happen. Sure, she could see Bruce repairing his prototype but from the way they'd acted someone else had repaired JASON and that just didn't happen. That meant that someone tried to steal or more likely did steal Bruce's proprietary design for JASON.

"There we go," Bruce murmured. "Now we upload the software and begin the integration process."

"So JASON?" STEPH asked from her place along the wall.

"Ra's al Ghul found his body and rebooted him," Bruce growled.

"Oh shit."

"Indeed."

STEPH bit her lip, wondering just exactly how long it would be before Ra's showed up at Wayne Manor to try and get JASON back. Heck, it was possible that DAMIAN was Ra's attempt to create his own version of JASON, which meant that he'd probably come in force. The thought of Ra's' ninja bots and fleet of hunter/killer ships taking out Wayne Manor bothered her badly. This place was all but her second home.

"You need help?" STEPH asked. "I mean, CASS and I aren't much but we do have some friends. I could get ORACLE to help out. She and Babs are pretty darn good with the info blocking thing. Plus I have a couple of contacts in the Galactic Guard that I could point in Ra's' direction."

"That would be appreciated, actually," Bruce said. His attention was mostly focused on the screens monitoring CASS' software upgrade. "The repair station isn't as well armored as Wayne Manor proper. I'm thinking of linking with the Cave and the Manor but getting both of them into this area in a timely manner would be difficult."

"Cool," STEPH breathed, grinning when Bruce glanced at her. "I've always wanted to see the Cave. Is it anything at all like the Batcave in the Gotham game you set up?"

"Somewhat," Bruce chuckled. The monitors beeped and Bruce turned back to CASS, ignoring STEPH entirely as he worked on the syncronization problem, whatever it was. STEPH wasn't a repair bot. She was a combat/general work bot so all the stuff that Bruce and TIM did went right over her head.

TIM and JASON appeared at the door, JASON leaning against the wall at STEPH's side while TIM immediately went to help Bruce with CASS. He apparently saw exactly what the problem was because he pointed something out in a low murmur and got an approving smile and pat from Bruce. TIM ducked his head like he wanted to blush before getting to work on the whatever it was.

"Assassin bot?" JASON asked.

"Used to be," STEPH replied. "CASS: Covert Action Surgical Strikes."

"They really stretch when they come up with our names," JASON snorted. 

He seriously looked and acted human, so much so that STEPH was still amazed that he wasn't human. Of course, he wore human clothes that covered most of his body so she thought that she could be excused for having a hard time believing it. JASON cocked one eyebrow and smirked at her for staring so she stared even harder. That made him grin and bop her nose gently with his fingertip.

"You are so human," STEPH murmured while rubbing her nose.

"Eh, B really wanted to see if natural growth and training resulted in a more human AI," JASON said. He shrugged at her curious look. "Hey you tell me if it worked. I still feel like me, not like some near-human mythical whatever people think."

She snickered. Yeah, damn near human even if he didn't believe it. Steph frowned as she studied Bruce again. He was working with TIM to make sure that everything went well on CASS but those frown lines were a bit deeper than they should be and she could have sworn that he hadn't slept well in ages.

"Ra's is going to come after him, isn't he?" Steph whispered to JASON.

"Hell yeah," JASON whispered back. "He's going to do his damnedest to destroy B. He's done it before. The fucker was the one responsible for my destruction."

"And then he stole your body and rebooted you and what? Tried to steal your secrets?" STEPH asked.

"Yup."

JASON looked so grim about it that STEPH shuddered. Yeah, they were contacting ORACLE once CASS' upgrade was done. And that cute bot in the Guard was getting a call. Plus she might just see if she could get her friend in the News service to do another focus on Ra's and his less than ethical business practices. The last time hadn't gone too badly, though they were still cleaning up some of the blaster marks from the walls of their station. It could move now so they wouldn't be quite as easy of a target.

"TIM's got some Kryptonian friends," JASON muttered. "He's already let them know to be on the alert."

"He better have called the Titans," STEPH grumbled. "They're all but pirates but they've got the best gunship in the area."

"Yup, got them too," JASON laughed. "They're coming over for a VR day."

"Oh! You got TIM to play the Gotham game?" STEPH squealed because that was utterly awesome. She'd tried so hard but TIM just hadn't gotten into it that much.

That made JASON laugh out loud and wow, he seriously acted so human. That was the most human laugh she'd ever heard out of a bot, ever. JASON bopped her nose again, grinning when she batted at his hand. TIM grumbled something from the repair bed that sounded sort of like a complaint but looked more like he needed that blush upgrade that STEPH had been recommending for ages.

"Yeah, he's playing a goodie-two-shoes and I'm playing a handsome antihero with a heart of gold," JASON said.

"Heart of brass, you mean," TIM commented from his side of the room.

"Hush you," STEPH said, flapping her hands at him. "You focus on CASS and leave our gossip alone."

That made Bruce, JASON and Tim laugh, which STEPH counted as a win for her side. She didn't think that they'd make a mistake on CASS but that didn't stop her from worrying. CASS was her favorite person and if they'd been human STEPH would have proposed marriage ages ago. As it was, they couldn't marry because they were bots and no one thought bots had the 'capacity' to love. Stupid but that's what they had to deal with.

"Once CASS is done we ought to play a round," STEPH said to JASON. "CASS loves the Gotham game. I think it's a blast, personally. I mean, it's not necessarily very consistent between sessions but the whole environment is just so detailed. There's always something new to find and do."

"Very true," JASON said, grinning at her enthusiasm. Even his teeth looked human, a little stained with one crooked front tooth that looked for all the universe like it had been chipped somehow. "I like that you can change how you play it from round to round. Hero one time and villain the next."

STEPH nodded thoughtfully, perking up as Bruce and TIM started disconnecting CASS and bringing her back to reality. "I can't see playing a villain personally but it is a lot of fun getting to bend the rules as needed. Seriously a great setup."

They both went quiet as CASS woke and blinked up at Bruce and TIM. During the checklist that Bruce always ran through STEPH bit her lip. CASS smiled so brightly when she actually understood the test sentence that Bruce always showed her. Even TIM was grinning when CASS hugged Bruce and buried her face in his chest.

"You do have a lot more practice to do on the reading," Bruce told CASS while petting her hair fondly, "but this is the last physical upgrade. Two more software upgrades and you should be able to communicate very well."

"Thank you," CASS murmured.

"Hey, they got TIM to play the Gotham game," STEPH said once CASS let Bruce go and came over to her side for more hugs. "Wanna play a round with him and JASON?"

"Once we double-check DAMIAN," TIM said at CASS' curious look, "I'd be glad to."

"Always glad to play that thing," JASON chuckled. "Hell of a lot better than anything you're going to find on the open market."

Bruce smiled as he shooed them out of TIM's repair bay. They all headed back to the main repair bay where ALFRED was laying out a brand new skeleton that had to be for DAMIAN. It looked adult size, which seemed a little weird if DAMIAN was a raw prototype but maybe with Ra's coming after him they wanted DAMIAN up and running as soon as possible.

Not that it really mattered to STEPH. She'd already decided that she'd do whatever she could to keep Bruce, TIM and ALFRED safe. Once they were headed home, STEPH would tell CASS about the threat from Ra's al Ghul. CASS would probably have a dozen good ideas for taking him down hard.

"What?" CASS whispered to STEPH.

"Later," STEPH whispered back. "Just trouble on the horizon for the guys. We'll have to make sure that they stay safe."

CASS nodded seriously. She wrapped her fingers around STEPH's hand, squeezing at about twenty-five percent of her full strength out of respect for STEPH's skeleton's strength. STEPH squeezed back, giving it her all since CASS was way sturdier than STEPH was. It didn't take long before TIM and JASON headed back to their sides, leaving DAMIAN to Bruce and ALFRED.

"So, game time?" JASON asked.

He ever so casually slung one arm around TIM's shoulders, making TIM beep like he used to when he first arrived at the repair station. It was adorable enough that STEPH cooed at him and JASON. That got her a blush and a hard look from JASON and a pleading one from TIM. All she could do was grin at them both.

"So cute," STEPH said. "But yes, game time. What part were you two playing? We'd about finished the arc we were on."

JASON grinned as he told them about the No Man's Land arc, which STEPH had ignored entirely when she and CASS had played together. It sounded kind of crazy and brutal but TIM looked interested and JASON was enthusiastic about it so why not?

"Sure, let's give that one a whirl," STEPH said. "Might be interesting."

Of course the really interesting part as far as STEPH was concerned was getting to play with her girlfriend and watch what had to be a blooming romance between JASON and TIM. Actually winning the game was seriously secondary to her. JASON caught TIM's hand as they headed to the VR room. CASS giggled quietly next to STEPH.

"So cute!" STEPH whispered.

"Yes, very cute indeed," CASS agreed with a huge grin of her own. "Playtime is good."

"Very good," STEPH agreed. "Very, very good!"

+++++

"You know the kid's going to be dangerous when he comes on line," JASON said for the eighteenth time since they began the work to reboot DAMIAN's core processor. "He's designed that way. Combat functions will come up first."

"Yes, I know," TIM sighed. "You've told us that repeatedly."

JASON grumbled at TIM, looking more human than Father who ignored them both as he finished the last connections of DAMIAN's brain to his newly built body. TIM wasn't sure exactly what had JASON so upset and worried about rebooting DAMIAN. His body was fully restrained with locking bolts that should prevent him from using too much motion before his systems had been properly calibrated. Add that to the many power and fluid cables linked to his body and Damian would have a hard time doing anything more threatening than glaring.

"I still don't think that he should be here, B," JASON complained.

"TIM is fully prepared for bringing a combat robot on line, JASON," Father said so calmly that Tim couldn't help but smile at him. "He helped me deal with CASS before she had her language upgrades. She always came on line with her kill protocol enabled."

"You're kidding," JASON said, staring at Father in shock. "Who designs a bot to come up in kill mode?"

"Someone who's slipping the bot into a shipment intending to get the entire receiving crew and command staff killed," Father replied.

He shrugged at JASON's horrified growl. CASS had been very apologetic once they managed to calm her down. As far as TIM was concerned it wasn't that big of a deal. They'd altered their procedures for bringing new bots on line the first time. He really didn't think that there was much chance that DAMIAN would hurt them. It was possible that he'd damage himself but he wasn't likely to do much damage to JASON, Tim or Father.

It took another half hour before Father decided that everything was ready. JASON stationed himself practically on top of DAMIAN as if being right there was going to reassure or stop DAMIAN as his core processors booted up. TIM knew better, even if JASON didn't. The process of having all your processors come on line took long enough and was disorienting enough that DAMIAN likely wouldn't even realize that JASON was there.

Father was in the control booth at the back of the room, hidden behind screens that could take CASS' strongest blows. TIM handled the actual turn-on, carefully and methodically switching on the relays in DAMIAN's brain before shutting his cranium and stepping back to monitor the readouts.

"Come on, kiddo," JASON muttered, one hand on Damian's chest. "Don't let that bastard have screwed you up too bad."

Damian's body jerked as his process established contact with the new limbs. A second later his eyes opened, dilating and contracting automatically as he ran through the sensory startup procedure. Mock respiration and skin tone simulation started next, indicating that the startup process was going well. TIM nodded, making a couple tiny adjustments that allowed DAMIAN to access his vocal equipment and to correct a gyro problem that had to be making the world spin for him.

JASON shouted as DAMIAN abruptly tried to rip his arms free from the restraints. The locks held, keeping him from moving but an attack code spun out from his brain through the linkages that allowed Father and TIM to monitor him, surprising TIM. It didn't surprise Father. He already had several attack barriers in place that prevented DAMIAN from getting a foothold in the computer system. When DAMIAN's attack was rebuffed he jerked against the restraints again.

"Kid!" Jason bellowed. "Cut it out!"

"…Todd?" Damian blinked at Jason, still testing the restraints but he wasn't fighting as hard now.

"It looks like there's a very good mesh between his core and the new body, Father," TIM said in that particularly quiet and calm voice that made every bot they worked on together stop and think, no matter how panicked or angry they were.

"Good," Father grunted. "Check the stabilizers. He's going to need active tuning on those."

DAMIAN frowned as he turned his head just enough to be able to see TIM working at the control panel. When he turned back to JASON his expression was indigent as well as slightly pissed off. To have that much facial control so soon was a good sign, as well as a sign that his programming had come through the hard shut down quite well.

"Todd, I demand to know where I am," DAMIAN snapped. "Where are Grandfather and Mother? What has happened?"

"Kid," JASON sighed, "there's no easy way to say this. You got junked. I managed to get your body out but only the torso. B built you a new body. TIM's his personal assistant. You've been rebooted."

The too-harsh words made DAMIAN wince and stare. After JASON was done explaining, not that TIM thought it was much of an explanation, DAMIAN ran through a series of self-checks that made TIM smile approvingly. He really did have excellent programming. Once DAMIAN was moving he should have very little difficulty integrating his new body with his core systems.

"Tt."

TIM frowned, wondering if the little click was a sign of a fault but JASON grinned so maybe it was a symbol that had been programmed into DAMIAN? Nothing on the monitors showed any problems at all. Father put his hand on TIM's shoulder, making TIM start. He hadn't heard Father abandon his protected alcove. When Father came over and stood where DAMIAN could see him, DAMIAN gasped, staring up at him.

"You are my other Creator," DAMIAN breathed. "Todd, you brought me to my Father!"

"Well, duh, kiddo," JASON snorted. "Where the hell else was I going to bring you? B's the best bot repairman around."

"You imbecile!" DAMIAN snapped. "You know what Grandfather will do to Father if he finds out that I am here! We must depart at once. Release me. The integration can occur at some other time."

"You've been here for several weeks, DAMIAN," Father said so calmly that even TIM winced a little bit. "There's no need to leave right away. I'd prefer that you didn't leave at all."

"I will know exactly what has happened while I have been out of commission," DAMIAN said as he turned to glare at JASON who sighed and opened a port on his finger. 

He plugged into a port on DAMIAN's neck, sharing his memories of what had happened directly. The fire walls in DAMIAN and JASON's brains prevented TIM from seeing or recording what they shared. TIM felt a little bit left out, as though this was something that he should have known already. It was silly. JASON and DAMIAN obviously shared a history that TIM didn't. There was no reason for him to be feeling jealous of his little brother.

Father waited until JASON unplugged from DAMIAN to put one hand on JASON's shoulder. The crooked smile he got in return was so very human that TIM felt the urge to shiver in response. He was pretty sure that a shiver would indicate the awe TIM felt at how very human JASON was, though the desire to blush made him duck his head and study the readouts. DAMIAN took several more seconds to process the information he had been given, focusing his eyes on JASON with so much horror that JASON groaned and let his chin drop to his chest.

"They will be here any time," DAMIAN hissed. "Everyone on this station is in horrendous danger because of this, Todd."

"I know, I know," JASON sighed. "Goddamn son of a bitch won't let it go. I mean, come on. He junked you. How was I to know he'd be this damn serious about getting you back?"

"You are an idiot," DAMIAN snapped. "Of course he would care. I was his and now I am not. Grandfather has always been possessive. I must be brought on-line immediately. My combat functions will be needed very soon. Everyone here is in desperate danger."

"TIM," Father said, still in that too-calm tone of voice, "have ALFRED bring the defenses on-line."

"Yes, sir," TIM said. "Shall I call Lord Kal and The Titans?"

Father nodded as he worked to free DAMIAN from the restraints, tubes and wires covering his body. JASON frowned at TIM before helping Father with the process of liberating DAMIAN. As TIM left the repair bay he heard JASON and DAMIAN talking with Father.

"Didn't know you had any defenses," JASON commented.

"After your… demise…," Father said, "I found it wise to add some. The repair station won't compare with the Cave but Wayne Manor can still hold its own in most fights."

"They will be insufficient," DAMIAN said so impatiently that TIM made a little note in his schedule to call STEPH and CASS in too. "Grandfather will not allow this slight to continue. He will do everything in his power to destroy you, Father. We cannot allow him to succeed."

TIM smiled as he left hearing range. Personally, he thought that DAMIAN was going to require several rounds of socialization updates to deal with how incredibly rude he was but his heart seemed to be in the right place. As he made his way through the station, TIM composed messages for Kon, Bart and their other allies. Hopefully they would be able to get there in time. He really did hate fighting but TIM was relatively certain that the upgrades that CASS had recommended would keep him safe once the fighting began.

+++++

JASON strode through the hallways towards the defensive stations. Granted, B had upgraded the station a hell of a lot since JASON had last been here. They should be relatively secure. But with DAMIAN still going through final synchronization with his new body JASON was the only one who could make sure that the defenses were up and running properly. ALFRED sure as hell didn't have the capacity and JASON was pretty sure that little TIM wouldn't know which end of a laser gun to hold if his life depended on it.

The kid was adorable but he was just a repair bot. A cute repair bot with some adorable but serious personality profile issues but he was just a repair bot. JASON didn't think that TIM had the skills or the upgrades necessary to make sure that the station's defenses were working properly. The defensive grid was in the same place, thank fucking God, otherwise he'd have had to ask or search and JASON hated doing that. He wasn't sure he wanted to log into the systems properly. B had a stupid tendency to leave the pass codes the same for ages. The booby traps he'd set up might still be there.

JASON strode into the defensive stations and then froze when he saw TIM hooked into them.

"The fuck?" JASON asked.

"Hmm?"

TIM raised his head, eyes blank until he reactivated them and focused on JASON. His little blink of surprise made JASON grin. The kid really had a hell of a lot of potential if he ever got past the too cute for his own good stage. After a moment, TIM frowned while running the station through its paces.

"I don't see anyone coming yet," TIM commented with a slightly deeper frown. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah, I just wanted to make sure that everything got set up right," JASON replied. "Didn't think you had these sorts of upgrades, Timmy."

TIM ducked his head exactly as if he was trying to hide a blush that his face wasn't capable of portraying. Once again, JASON was hugely tempted to badger B into giving the kid a blush upgrade. He needed it. It seemed like half of the nonverbal communication he'd been programmed with, or maybe that he'd developed on his own, relied on blushes and other facial quirks. The kid could probably wrap people around his little finger if he had it.

"CASS was quite firm about my needing to be able to defend myself," TIM said as he finished getting everything on-line. He started arming all the automatic cannons and set up the laser grid more efficiently than JASON could have. "Father agreed so I've had the full defensive upgrades. I also had military upgrades for assassin work and hand to hand combat."

"The hell? Really?" JASON asked. "Why go that far?"

TIM's little laugh was so dry and bitter that JASON winced in spite of himself. The look he gave JASON answered that question without words. He nodded, looking over his shoulder towards the portion of the station where B was still working with DAMIAN. It made sense that TIM would want to make sure that he was never destroyed the way JASON had been.

"Yeah, I get that," JASON sighed. "B doesn't show his emotions but they're sure as hell there. Always wondered if he was a cyborg or something. He's really repressed."

"He's human," TIM said. The clipped tone made JASON stare at him.

"What?" JASON asked.

"It's nothing, not anymore," TIM said.

He focused on the defensive grid, activating a series of asteroids around the area that had secret remote terminals. In less than a second they had sensor information on the entire area, way farther out than the used to be able to. The control terminal scrolled information on the initial scan included way too fucking many 'no pirates located' notices.

"Pirates?" JASON demanded fiercely enough that TIM winced. "When the fuck did pirates start invading this area?"

"Shortly after your… disappearance," TIM said. "According to the records. That I've read. And um, ALFRED."

Just the way he said it made JASON shiver. TIM wasn't meeting his eyes. His normally agile hands had gone still on the console, which meant he'd pulled his awareness almost entirely into the electronic system. It had been a really long time since JASON retreated into the electronic world that way but TIM was young and relatively new. The electronic world they could access as bots was so much less violent and confusing than the real world. Hiding away in there usually meant that the bot, TIM, was trying to hide from something that frightened or hurt him.

"Tell me B wasn't hurt," JASON pleaded because he could only think of one thing that would make TIM retreat that way at the moment and the thought of B, Bruce, being hurt made him want to do the same damn thing TIM was.

"He healed," TIM whispered, his voice much more static filled than normal. "ALFRED made sure that he survived. He's… he's okay now."

"TIM," JASON said, kneeling down by TIM's side to put a hand on TIM's knee. "What happened?"

"BANE," TIM replied, shutting his eyes for a moment before opening them and coming back into his body. "BANE attacked. Father's spine was, was broken. He nearly died. I was actually brought in shortly after that, as an attempt on ALFRED's part to get Father to, well, to live again."

"I'd say that it fucking worked," JASON said. "And thank every fucking god for that. I don't know what I'd have done if B was dead."

TIM ducked his head again, smiling so shyly and sweetly that JASON was tempted to kiss him just like he had in the game. The kid really was adorable. After a moment TIM sighed and disengaged from the defensive stations. JASON stood, offering TIM a hand as he swayed momentarily from the loss of inputs.

"We're ready," TIM said, quietly confident in a way that JASON really shouldn't find so attractive. "I've already contacted our allies. They're on the way."

"Good to hear," JASON said as he reminded himself that not every bot out there was fully functional for sexual activities. "Ra's is pretty dangerous. The more allies we have the better off we are. You ever have any success convincing B that the station should go back to more civilized regions?"

The way TIM snorted and rolled his eyes made JASON laugh. Apparently some things never changed. JASON had argued with B about keeping WM01 this far out so many times that he couldn't count them. B's reluctance to leave the dangerous areas around the Narrows and return to a system that was safer, say to the Cave back in Gotham's system, had led to more than a few shouting matches between them.

Sure, helping those who were less well-off was important. And yes, JASON could agree that it was better to take the repair station to those in need than it was to expect them to make a long and probably dangerous trip to another system for repairs that they might not be able to afford. Still, B really never had taken care of himself well enough in JASON's opinion.

He sighed. "Should have expected that. You have no idea how much we argued about that."

"Father did say that it was a frequent bone of contention between you," TIM said. He shrugged. "I asked about it a couple of times but Father refuses to leave for anything less than a full-scale invasion."

"He might get it," JASON muttered. TIM's startled look made JASON grimace. "I meant it about Ra's. He's one of the major manufacturers of assassin bots and he's got some whacked out plans for galactic conquest to 'cleanse the universe of evil'. I seriously wish B was more reasonable about going back to the Cave. It'd be way safer than hanging out here."

TIM nodded thoughtfully while staring at JASON. "Let's go talk to him about it. Between your and DAMIAN's data we might be able to convince him to move the station temporarily. We can always come back once the threat is gone."

From TIM's expression, he didn't think that they'd manage to convince B to move but hey, it was worth a try. Anything that kept B safer was worth a try in JASON's opinion. As hard as they'd fought when JASON was younger, Bruce was his father, his creator. That meant one hell of a lot.

Come what may, JASON was determined to keep Bruce, ALFRED, DAMIAN and TIM safe.

+++++

TIM watched as DAMIAN ran through a series of combat moves that tested his body to the maximum. The spins and high kicks were very impressive. TIM thought that Father might have engineered new joints for DAMIAN as he had incredible flexibility coupled with a high degree of strength. The monitors showed that he used very little power for each move, ensuring that DAMIAN would be able to stay in combat longer than most other bots. Even CASS didn't have that combination of flexibility, strength and power efficiency and she'd been specifically designed as an assassin.

Even with his combat upgrades, TIM knew that he would never be able to match DAMIAN's performance. Not that he wanted to. TIM was a service bot, not a combat bot. Wanting to be something that he wasn't was ridiculous. Off on the side of the room JASON watched DAMIAN's performance with a serious frown that made TIM reassess whether there had been mistakes in what DAMIAN did.

"Not bad, kid," Jason said. Father grunted his approval, a surprising smile on his lips. "Bit predictable but pretty damn impressive performance on your body. Those knees are really damned flexible, B."

"New design I've been working on," Father said with a much wider smile of approval that JASON had caught that. "It's good to see that they're working properly. I had some concerns about their stability long-term."

"There is some level of instability," DAMIAN said as he downloaded the internal test results to the system. "I was able to compensate for it, however."

TIM began studying the data at the same time that Father frowned and studied it on his terminal. While they worked together to figure out what was wrong (a minor programming problem or a more major design flaw) JASON pushed off of the wall and came over to spar with DAMIAN. They were nearly the same size, though JASON was somewhat wider in the shoulders and DAMIAN was slightly taller due to his longer legs. After a moment TIM stopped working just to watch the two of them.

DAMIAN's programming was clearly quite good but JASON kept tagging him with blows to the belly, head and legs that knocked DAMIAN back. There was a level of unpredictability in JASON's movements that befuddled DAMIAN's programming just as much as it did TIM's. He couldn't tell what JASON was going to do next. After the sixth time that JASON knocked DAMIAN on his back, DAMIAN came up glaring.

"That's what I want," JASON crooned with a grin that looked half mad to TIM. "Come on. Stop relying on your programming and try something new, kid."

"That is illogical," DAMIAN snapped at JASON but his next move was a strange synthesis of two moves that he'd done previously.

He connected and knocked JASON back several steps, only to have DAMIAN stop and stare in surprise. JASON laughed and made a 'come on' gesture at DAMIAN. This time the sparring was far more even, with DAMIAN landing as many blows as JASON did. The first time that DAMIAN managed to knock him over JASON crowed with delight and rolled back to his feet. TIM turned to stare at Father who was grinning fiercely at the two of them.

"Was he always like this?" TIM asked Father in a low voice so that he wouldn't interrupt JASON and DAMIAN's practice.

"Not always," Father said equally quietly. "But once his AI began to develop, yes. He loves this sort of thing, teaching bots how to be creative, how to do new things. He's really very good at it."

"Hah!" DAMIAN barked as he pinned JASON down and managed to keep him there through some leverage holds that would require JASON to destroy his own joints to get free.

"Perfect!" JASON laughed. "Good job, kid. That's what you need to do when fucking Ra's' minions show up."

DAMIAN let him go with a far more grim expression on his face. When JASON stood up and brushed himself off he snorted and lightly punched DAMIAN's shoulder. The move seemed affectionate rather than offensive but DAMIAN glared at him as though the punch was an actual attack.

"You know they're coming," JASON said. "We all do. And they'll probably have programming very similar to your base programming, kid. The more creative you can be in combat the more likely it will be that you'll kill them instead of being killed. Gotta protect the little guy and B, you know."

"I'm not little!" TIM protested so automatically that the words were out of his mouth before he realized that he wanted to say them.

All he got was grins from Father and JASON along with a disdainful sniff from DAMIAN. TIM glared at all of them, desperately grateful that he hadn't listened to Father's urging him to get a quick upgrade for blushes. As he opened his mouth to insist that they stop talking about him that way the proximity alarms went off.

"Sir," ALFRED said over the intercom, "we have a cloaked ship approaching at high velocity. From what sensors have been able to determine it is heavily armored."

"Go to battle stations," Father said as he began linking his work terminal into the station's security system.

"Come on!" JASON snapped at TIM and DAMIAN. "They'll head for the landing bay. It's the easiest place to attack."

"Not anymore," TIM disagreed. "Father added a great many automatic laser defenses last year. The least defended place is the passenger entrance by the topside small ship landing zone."

"You better be right about that," JASON said as they ran the opposite direction from where the landing bay was.

"I am," TIM said confidently. "The laser grid will take out anything that hasn't been authorized entrance. Father was quite serious about upgrading the defenses there."

By the time they made the trip from the working bays all the way up the small ship landing zone ALFRED had confirmed that the attacking ship had sent down a smaller boarding ship to their destination. He estimated that they had at most twenty opponents to deal with unless Ra's had sent in non-humanoid hunter/killer bots.

"He would not do so," DAMIAN said as they took up posts a safe distance from the air lock. "Grandfather has a profound bias against non-humanoid bots."

"Got that right," Jason grunted as he sealed the secondary lock behind them ensuring that even if the primary lock was destroyed the station wouldn't lose atmosphere.

Losing the air wouldn't harm ALFRED, JASON, DAMIAN or TIM but it would kill Father. That was absolutely not acceptable so TIM made no objections to JASON's actions. Several seconds later the main air lock blew inwards in a fiery explosion that swept down the hallway for two seconds before the outward rush of air blew it back into the attacking bots' faces.

They were in fact humanoid, all with heavy armor and weapons designed for killing organics rather than bots. TIM frowned at them, recording the image and then linking into the station's systems to send an urgent message to Kon, STEPH, CASS and the Titans. There was a blocker in the system, probably on the attacking ship, but TIM configured the message to get past its distortion and then boosted the signal to high enough power level that it would get through no matter what. It might be full of static when it arrived but it would get to his friends.

"WM01 is under attack," TIM said in the message as DAMIAN and JASON moved to block the attacking bots. "Urgent! Help required immediately. Attackers appear to be targeting organics on the station. Please send help immediately."

He sent the message, complete with the images he'd recorded, and disconnected so that he could help DAMIAN and JASON deal with this first wave of attack. JASON took the brunt of the attack, fighting in such an eclectic style that once again TIM was surprised that he wasn't human. One of the attacking bots fired at him with his rifle set on stun. The expression on all of the attacking bots faces when JASON didn't fall, didn't even slow down, was stunned.

DAMIAN made them pay for their moment of distraction. He tore into them, breaking brain cases and crippling limbs so that they couldn't attack. Two of them got past DAMIAN and JASON, charging at TIM as if they expected him to run. Instead he moved smoothly into the defensive pose that STEPH and CASS had taught him. One strike crippled the central processing unit of the first attacker. A second attack took down the second attacking bot by crippling its hip unit. TIM followed it to the floor, striking a third time with enough force that he separated its cranium from its neck column.

"Damn, Timmy," JASON drawled through their personal comm units since vocal communication wasn't possible with the air evacuated from the hallway. "You're vicious when you get going."

"Its neck column appears to be poorly manufactured," TIM said, ducking his head because JASON really had to stop making him want to blush.

"There will be more," DAMIAN said urgently enough to prompt Tim back to his feet. "We must call for aid."

"I already did so." TIM helped DAMIAN power off the rest of the bots who had survived.

Removing their power packs was a simple matter which turned them into nothing more than inert hunks of machinery. TIM checked to see whether any of them had back up power supplies for their AI's and found that no, none of them did. They were one-off bots, designed to be used for one attack and then discarded as worthless. The sheer thought of that level of wastefulness with resources made TIM feel ill. Ra's obviously didn't value bots at all.

"How long?" JASON asked as he put one hand on TIM's shoulder to comfort him.

"At least an hour," TIM replied. "I know how far away Kon's ship was and the Titans are about the same distance out. STEPH and CASS might get here sooner but there's no guarantee that they're close. CASS insists on traveling cloaked and STEPH loves to go new places. They might be so far out that they can't make it here in time."

"We'll just have to hold on until reinforcements arrive then," JASON said.

He looked grim as he said it, glaring down the hallway to the destroyed air lock as if he wanted to kill everything and everyone that could threaten WM01. This time TIM was the one to reach out to reassure. JASON blinked at him in surprise and then smiled brightly while DAMIAN sniffed as if he thought that the two of them were being ridiculous.

"We'll survive," TIM said. "Father has more tricks up his sleeve than you might think."

+++++

_There should be more story here. Really. I had plans to show how everyone fought Ra's off, how TIM and JASON worked together to drive back Ra's' ships until Kon and his ship could arrive. There was going to be a dramatic confrontation between Ra's and Bruce over the comms while the bots fought for their lives. And then Kal-El and Dick would arrive with the Kryptonian fleet to rescue Repair Station WM01, driving Ra's back and away. Then they'd limp back to Wayne Manor, linking the repair station into Bruce's ancestral asteroid home and things would get to a much more even keel even with the ever-present threat of Ra's sending assassins to get DAMIAN back._

_But no. I've never been able to finish this one. Once again, it's a verse that the DCnU killed for me. I am sorry about that but I hope the little summary will make the lack of a proper ending more palatable. Here's hoping that someday I get my fanfic muses back again. *sad sigh*_


End file.
